According to the NIPUN Bharat Mission guidelines, community participation is a central and overarching factor in planning, implementing and monitoring FLN interventions and there needs to be a sense of ownership at all levels such that households and the communities can be empowered to act as an extension to school-based education.
However, over the years, parent-teacher meeting (PTM) days in government schools have seen limited activity as parent participation and engagement have remained low. Across Uttar Pradesh (UP), a PTM is seen as a checklist or a quarterly compliance activity at the school level. As a result, these meetings tend to draw fewer parents and offer limited opportunities for meaningful interaction between parents and teachers.
At Central Square Foundation (CSF), we believe systemic change without active community participation is not possible; there is an urgent need to work with parents as a core sphere of influence to improve student learning outcomes (SLOs). While CSF is present in eight districts of Uttar Pradesh, our project management units in six of them — Agra, Aligarh, Jhansi, Sitapur, Ghaziabad and Gorakhpur — have been working with the district administration to reimagine PTMs.
We have been engaging districts to ensure PTMs are able to focus on two key objectives:
- An increase in parents attending the PTMs;
- Increase in parent voices in PTMs and making them a meaningful space for discussion on their children’s learning
Student attendance is a big concern for the district leadership and it became the rallying point for us to build the case for bringing PTMs as top-of-agenda for the District Magistrate (DM), the Chief Development Officer (CDO) and the Basic Shiksha Adhikari (BSA) in UP. From a bureaucrat’s lens, the traditional approach to improving attendance has focused on school-centric solutions including better infrastructure, teacher training and curriculum reforms. While necessary, these measures are insufficient in isolation; the community must become an active partner in a child’s education.
The CSF District Project Management Unit (DPMU) teams, along with the district leadership, has co-created a multi-level engagement strategy to ensure PTMs are meaningful for the parents and schools:
- Awareness: ensuring parents understand the importance of regular attendance and student learning;
- Participation: ensuring parents attend PTMs and support learning at home;
- Empowerment: ensuring parents proactively engage with teachers, demand quality education and become advocates for their children’s learning
To operationalise this strategy, we co-designed the model PTM agenda and structure across our portfolio districts and followed an iterative process to refine our understanding of what works and does not. This included:
- Swagat: setting a celebratory tone at the start of the meeting;
- Samaroh: conducting activities for children where learning is ‘visible’ to parents;
- Samapaan: oath taking by parents to send their children to school regularly and support them in learning at home. This also includes helping parents visualise school-home continuum vis-a-vis child’s learning and encouraging them to not treat PTMs as a one-off event.
District-wise PTM Highlights from Uttar Pradesh
Agra
Between April and July 2024, four PTMs were conducted, including a highly successful Mega-PTM that engaged over 70,000 parents and 650+ public representatives. The participation of local leaders not only helped address broader issues like infrastructure but also strengthened parental ownership of student attendance and learning outcomes.
23 March 2025
Jhansi
In March 2025, one PTM was conducted, restructured around a printed report card inspired by the Holistic Progress Card (HPC) outlined in the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020. For the first time, 50,000 physical report cards were distributed, enabling meaningful, data-driven conversations between teachers and parents. The sight of parents carefully reading these cards, eager to understand their child’s progress, was a testament to the power of tangible feedback.
20 March 2025
Ghaziabad
From July 2024 to July 2025, 10 Model PTMs were conducted, each focussing on improving parental engagement to drive student attendance and learning. Starting this academic year, the PTM’s were organised around quarterly themes like Sahbhagita Se Nipunta in line with state initiative school chalo abhiyan, which focused on improving enrolment. This was coupled with district priority to leverage local leadership within the communities to act as a catalyst which saw the involvement of Dr. Manju Shiwach (MLA Modinagar), Sarpanches and Municipal Councellors who advocated for regular school attendance.
Sitapur
Between January and April 2025, three PTMs were conducted in collaboration with grassroots non-profit organisations, who supported parent mobilisation in remote areas and provided feedback through trained observers. The team deployed 130+ trained observers for real-time pulse on the PTM quality and support needed by schools and parents.
Gorakhpur
Between November 2024 and February 2025, two PTMs were conducted and rebranded as Gorakhpur Mahotsav. The event saw the participation of Ravi Kishan (Indian actor and the Member of Parliament from Gorakhpur); the buzz created by the district administration translated into last-mile excitement in schools.
Aligarh
Between January and April 2025, three PTMs were held under the banner of Shikshak-Abhibhavak Abhiyan, designed to generate excitement and active engagement among district officials. More than 100 district and block officials attended PTMs in different blocks with the District Magistrate leading the way.
Learnings
- Influencer/celebrity led PTMs: while influencer-led PTMs created good buzz and media coverage around the event, the PTM objectives were often side-lined and the focus shifted to the influencer/celebrity. PTMs ended up becoming an ‘event’ in a ‘particular’ school instead of becoming a forum for parent and teacher interaction across all schools in the district.
- District leadership buy-in: the presence of dignitaries played a crucial role in creating a lasting impact among attendees. When district level officers were on the ground during the PTM day, it signaled that such events were priority for the leadership, increasing the implementation quality of the PTM.
The Road Ahead
While these innovations have created a platform for parents to come into schools, the next step is to develop an at-scale model of meaningful community engagement that can directly strengthen student learning outcomes. Sustaining parent–teacher dialogue at the school level, building trust and mutual respect between government school teachers and parents and exploring how PTMs can influence both student attendance and broader learning outcomes are all areas that call for deeper reflection and action. Equally important is finding ways to extend parent and community engagement beyond PTMs, so that the ecosystem as a whole becomes more supportive of children’s growth.
At the heart of this journey lies a simple but powerful belief: when parents feel welcomed, seen and valued, they forge stronger connections with schools and this sustained partnership holds the potential to transform their children’s learning journeys.
